Secret Meetings
by Jem Kallop
Summary: After Battle City, Ryou attempts to return to his previous life, but it is difficult when everyone who looks at him is reminded of the evil spirit living in his Ring. Ryou finds escape and solace in his soul room, with a member of the Shadows he would probably do better to avoid. Deathshipping oneshot, mostly fluff XD


**Here is some deathshipping! It is once again written for the 'Prompt Exchange Challenge' created by Unattainable Dreams, and though I usually write thiefshipping for it, deathshipping just seemed to fit this prompt. Having said that, though, this oneshot is rushed, clumsy, and really not very good. However, I hope you still enjoy it, as the prompt was a great word that I tried to do justice!**

**Warnings: a few swear words, hence the T rating, but nothing else!**

**And I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of these characters. XD Enjoy! - Jem**

Prompt: 'Clandestine' [Sent by Unattainable Dreams]

The last few minutes of the lesson were dragging on, ticking by agonisingly slowly in the late afternoon sun. The heat was always unbearable at this time of year. The air felt hot and muggy, overbearing and under nourishing in the cramped and stifling atmosphere of the classroom. Ryou sat at his desk, pen in hand, lips pursed. He scratched down the last few sums, knowing he would have to complete the exercise at home later, but he did not have the strength nor the inclination to finish it now. It had been a long day, and all Ryou wanted was to get out of there.

The bell finally rang. There was a flurry of movement as all the students packed away their books, bags slinging over shoulders as everyone headed for the door in a huge, crowded rush. Ryou sighed, letting the craziness abate for a little. He took his time in picking up his bags, sorting through his things with a small smile gracing his lips.

There was a rustle in front of him. "Hey, Ryou, you coming?"

Glancing up, Ryou blinked when he saw Yugi before him. His short, spiky-haired friend was looking at Ryou with the same look as he always wore now; sympathetic, but with the underlying fear that Ryou might change and challenge him to a shadow game at any point.

The Ring hummed with laughter about Ryou's neck.

"Yes, I'm coming." Ryou forced a smile to his lips as he rose, hooking his bag over one shoulder. He followed Yugi reluctantly out of the classroom, feeling a momentary pang of resignation when Joey, Tea, and Tristan were waiting for them in the corridor. He shouldn't have been surprised, really.

"Yugi!" Joey punched the shortest teen on the arm, turning to begin walking down the corridor. "You, me, duel, tonight. Tea and Tristan are going to watch."

Yugi blinked, rubbing the back of his head in a half-embarrassed gesture. "Oh, um, sure."

"Great, because your grandpa's been sorting through my deck again and I want to try out some new moves on you." Joey grinned widely, slinging an arm around Yugi's shoulders.

Ryou watched them as they continued on down the street, Tea and Tristan soon joining in. The group laughed together, looking perfectly natural; no darkness had ever stepped into their lives, splitting them apart, forcing them to act in ways they hated. None of them had to despise themselves. Ryou squeezed his eyes shut, stopping in the street as he wrapped the fingers of one hand around the Ring at his chest. The cold metal burned his bare skin.

"Ryou?"

Forcing his brown eyes open, Ryou met Yugi's curious, guarded gaze. He frowned at Ryou. "Are you ok?"

Ryou sighed inwardly but forced a smile to his lips, walking forwards again to meet Yugi. "Yes, I'm fine."

Yugi nodded once, turning back around and continuing down the street. Tea, Tristan, and Joey hadn't even noticed that Ryou stopped, although there was nothing different about that. Ryou was essentially invisible in this group.

_It's better than the alternative,_ Ryou scolded himself as he wandered after Yugi. _You can't lose yourself to the Ring again._

A cold chuckle floated in the back of his mind but Ryou steadfastly ignored it. He was living his life for himself now, never mind what anyone else wanted him to do, but it was just so _difficult_ when everyone in his life feared him turning into a malignant spirit at any given moment. Ryou didn't blame them. He understood the misgivings in Yugi's eyes, the suspicion in Joey's; the spirit of the Ring had hurt them enough times before for Ryou to understand. But that didn't stop it from hurting.

"Ryou, are you coming?" Yugi's voice piped up, quietly, but it caused an instantaneous reaction from the rest of the group. Joey narrowed his eyes, glaring at Ryou, and Tea and Tristan grimaced visibly.

Ryou sighed. "No, it's fine. I've seen you guys duel enough in school."

"Are you sure?" Tea put on a brave face, even daring to take a few steps closer. She couldn't hide the fear behind her dancing blue eyes, though, which Ryou easily saw. She swallowed. "I mean, you're welcome to join us..."

The glare Joey was levelling at Ryou spoke otherwise.

"No, I'm fine." Ryou forced a smile back onto his lips. "I've got somewhere to be, anyway. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Tea bit her lip but didn't protest anymore, turning instead to join Joey and Tristan again as they continued down the street. Yugi sent one last, half-hearted smile Ryou's way before he carried on after his friends. Their laughter echoed back to Ryou where he stood on the street.

Ryou sighed.

No, he didn't blame them. He understood that they wanted to move on with their lives, to forget all the nightmares and darkness from Battle City, and that looking at Ryou reminded them too well of all their struggles and torment. But for Ryou, he couldn't do that. The damned spirit in the Ring would not leave him alone, would not let him forget that darkness still lived deep within his soul, no matter how much Ryou wanted to forget. He hated the way no thought was entirely his own. He had no privacy in his body.

But he knew somewhere he did.

Ryou felt a smile beginning to tug at his lips as he turned to walk up the street, in the opposite direction to Yugi and the others. He was beginning to feel excitement tugging at his gut again, knowing that soon he would be in his safe place; the place that was purely his to do with as he liked, where no one, not even the spirit of the Ring, could touch him. Only people he invited were allowed there.

Upping his pace a little, Ryou hurried through the streets, the sun slanting through the clouds at an ever lowering angle. The air was still uncomfortably warm but Ryou didn't unbutton his school jacket, not wanting the Ring to show through the cloth and cause suspicion. He kept his head down, ignoring the crowds. All through the long school days, the awkward stares and odd conversations, the failed attempts at politeness and inclusion, the thought of getting home was the only thing that kept Ryou going.

His feet slapped against the pavement as Ryou hurried further. His home swung into view, a simple small house in a long line of simple houses, and it didn't take him long to unlock the door and enter. His father was absent, working again as ever, so Ryou was free to go straight to his room. He didn't even bother to eat before leaping up the stairs two at a time, entering his familiar space and smiling around the darkness of his bedroom.

Ryou settled comfortably onto his bed, stretching up towards the ceiling. He flopped back against his cushions, yawning, back clicking from sitting still so long on the school desks. His time had come again. With a true smile lifting the corners of his lips, Ryou reached under his clothes and pulled out the Ring, the metal cool and smooth under his hands.

Another low chuckle sounded in his ear as Ryou stroked the metal. Ryou knew he was willingly going to give the dark spirit a chance to roam his body, but they held a sort of uneasy alliance now; as long as Ryou willingly went to his soul room every evening, then the spirit would ignore him during the school day and leave his friends alone. Ryou, at first, hated the time he was forced to spend in the shadows, but recently a new ... addition ... had made it much more interesting. So much so that Ryou actually looked forwards to his evenings in the soul room now.

So it was with ease and anticipation that Ryou allowed his mind to dip into the shadows, feeling the spirit of the Ring laugh as it took control of his body once more.

...

Ryou stirred, blinking open his eyes to find himself once more in his familiar room in the Ring. He was lying on his simple bed, the darkness of the shadows boundless as they swirled blue-black around the walls and ceiling. The space was seemingly endless; Ryou had spent a long time exploring the dark, cavernous passages of this place, usually to no avail. They all led him back to this simple space in the end.

Sitting with a stretch, Ryou glanced around the room, expectant smile still tugging at his lips. He knew he wouldn't be alone here for long.

"You took your damn time!"

There, as expected, sounded the deep dark voice that Ryou had come to know so well. He swung his legs off the side of the bed and glanced around, eyes narrowing as he attempted to squint through the darkness, trying to see through the veil of swirling shadows. The very air was thick in here, like fog on a misty morning. It cast everything in a darkly translucent light.

"Kek?" Ryou spoke softly, voice cutting like glass through the heavy atmosphere. "You here?"

"Of course I'm fucking here. Where the hell else would I be?" The voice sounded irritable. A concentration of shadows swirled just to Ryou's right, flaring up in a tornado of sorts, swirling round and round until they began to make a substantial mass. Hair spiked up from a tall head, colouring light blond, and a long cloak made of shadows swirled around a boldly elegant form. Dark violet eyes pierced through the blackness, meeting Ryou's brown gaze dead on. "About damn time."

Ryou smiled.

Kek strode arrogantly across the soul room, easily crossing the small amount of space between them to jump on Ryou. Brown hands landed on slender pale shoulders as Kek forced Ryou down onto his back, leaning right over him, breath hot on Ryou's cheek. Ryou grinned and shuffled back, his back lying easily against the mattress. Fingers easily roamed Ryou's chest, warm skin running down to brush over his stomach, tugging his shirt up to expose pale skin that Kek eagerly explored. Ryou rolled his eyes. He looped his arms around Kek's neck, leaning up to peck him once on the cheek. "That's it? I don't even get any foreplay before you start ripping my clothes off?"

"What's the point?" Kek ran his palms all over Ryou's chest, sending him a wicked grin. "It isn't like you ever say no."

Ryou scoffed and shook his head, pushing Kek off him as he sat up. "Can we at least have a conversation first? How have you been?"

Kek growled low in his throat but obediently climbed off Ryou, instead opting to sit against the headboard and pull Ryou possessively into his lap. His lips teased at Ryou's earlobe, muttering, "The same as fucking always. What did you expect?"

"Oh, I thought you might have worked out how to break back into Marik's body and take over the world," Ryou responded calmly. He turned a little in Kek's grip, expression deadpan and perfectly serious.

Kek glowered. "I'm working on it."

"I don't doubt that." Ryou chuckled before curling back up into Kek's lap, pressing a small kiss to the nape of his neck.

Kek grunted, although the noise was a little sour. "I thought I told you never to say that bastard's name around me anyway."

"So you did," Ryou murmured quietly. He nuzzled a bit closer, arms winding carefully about Kek's shoulders, smiling as he felt warm brown hands tighten around his back. Coming here was Ryou's solitude, his safety net; it was his private room, his private business, and no one else could come in and tell him to stay away, to be sensible. These meetings with Marik's dark half were his and his alone.

For Kek, however, they were still difficult. Marik's dark half hated his banishment to the shadows, hated how he was trapped in a realm he despised, surrounded by weaker creatures with no body to return to and no hope of escape. Upon losing the duel against the Pharaoh and being pushed out of the body by Marik, Kek had found himself locked in the darkness, screaming out his anger and hatred for all the shadows to hear. Ryou had been terrified. He himself had resided in the Shadow Realm for most of Battle City, whilst Bakura controlled his body to aid Marik, so to suddenly find an evil dark spirit of Kek's magnitude stalking the darkness had been a shock to say the least.

At first, Ryou had run. He had been terrified of the dark aura Kek held, how evil he seemed, how he had a hatred of everything living and everything real. But his running had only served to make Kek pursue him faster until, in the end, they had struck up an uneasy alliance; Kek would not harm Ryou as long as Ryou did not run away. Slowly, they had begun to talk, sharing in mutual hatred of being out of control of their bodies, until a careful sort of trust had sprung between them. That trust had continued to grow until Ryou was plucked back out of the shadows and placed in his own body again. Ryou had at first been relieved to return to his normal life but, after a few days of the judgemental stares from his so-called friends, Ryou realised that he missed Kek's blunt honesty, his brutal turns of phrase, to the point that he wanted to go back. So Ryou had begun his daily ventures into the Ring, allowing Bakura control of the body again, so that he could spend time with Kek. They had grown increasingly closer until one day their desires got the better of them and Kek had jumped Ryou, leaving him in no doubt that their relationship was certainly more than friendship.

Kek sighed loudly, still holding Ryou tightly against him. "You can hardly talk, anyway. You're such a little weakling, letting that Ring spirit own your body every night."

Ryou winced a little. This was one point on which they disagreed; if Kek had his way, he would have Ryou fight the spirit for every iota of control, never letting the dark one have control of his body. But Ryou was different. At least this way, they both got a chance to live in the real world, and Ryou was blessed with these small windows of opportunity to be with Kek. Ryou knew he would fight for that with all his heart and soul.

"The spirit isn't so bad," Ryou murmured, turning his face further into Kek's neck. "He lets me come here, anyway."

"He doesn't _let_ you do anything," Kek grumbled begrudgingly. "You make it happen." However, he held Ryou a little closer, as if to reassure him that he was truly grateful for these visits. Ryou smiled, curling up comfortably in Kek's lap; he had grown to understand the angry dark spirit, knowing how hard shows of emotion were for him. He had been born out of rage and hatred, after all, so learning any new emotions was a tough and frightening experience for him.

Ryou settled down, entangling his legs with Kek's. "Yes, I make it happen. I keep it a secret from Yugi and Joey and all those other hypocrites who would be terrified out of their minds if they knew what we were doing. I hide it from my family, I even hide it from the Ring spirit, all for you. You had better be grateful."

"I'd never be grateful to you," Kek muttered sourly. It was a blatant lie, which Ryou knew, but Kek found it easier to say that then tell the truth. Ryou understood well enough what he meant.

With a small smile, Ryou turned in Kek's lap to plant a kiss to his lips. When Kek pushed for more he held back, however, smile turning into a smirk as one corner of Ryou's mouth lifted higher. "Not yet."

"Why the hell not?" Kek's tone was dark and matter-of-fact, bordering on whiny.

Ryou merely chuckle. He wrapped his arms back around Kek's shoulders, running his fingers through blond hair before lightly dipping down to explore a brown back which still held all of Marik's scars. Kek had been the one to really feel the pain from that, not Marik, much as the rest of the world liked to forget that fact. Ryou always treated those ancient symbols with respect.

Ryou placed his lips close to Kek's ear. "Because I would like to remind you that you're a person first."

Kek acquiesced with a grumble, although his eyes turned half-lidded with pleasure as he felt Ryou's hands exploring his back. The scars there were as real as any physical injury, despite being held by a body made of shadows, and Ryou knew how they pained Kek, although the dark being would never show it. It was in the tightness of his dark violet eyes, the sharp tendons of his wrists, the unspoken tension in his shoulders.

So, when Ryou placed light hands on Kek's shoulders, turning him to lie on his front, Kek submitted without complaint.

Ryou soon rid Kek of his ridiculous purple cloak and the black shirt that sat under it, smiling a little at the familiar brown flesh that was revealed to him. Although he knew that they were both in the Shadow Realm, and that their bodies held no substance in the real world, touching Kek in here felt more true to Ryou than any of his experiences in his own body did. He relished every brush of brown skin.

With slow, gentle movements, Ryou started at the base of Kek's spine, lightly tracing the pattern of scars. He wound his fingers up slowly, fluttering over every inch of brown skin, ensuring to leave no patch untouched. As he went, he could hear Kek's breath hitch, feel the warmth emanating from him, and see the peaceful stupor that settled over his features. Occasionally, Kek would arch up into Ryou's hand, seeking more pleasure from particular spots or merely wanting to feel the pale boy close to him again. Ryou was more than happy to comply.

Tracing up the rest of the scars, Ryou's finger was as light as air as it passed over the wing pattern decorating Kek's shoulder blades. He traced every intricate line, felt along every tiny smidgen of skin as he sought to bring Kek pleasure, knowing that it was still an alien concept to him. Ryou intended to change that.

Kek had soon had enough of merely lying submissive, however, and he soon flipped over onto his back and sat up, pushing Ryou backwards with flaring violet eyes. This time, Ryou did not stop him. He fell back on the sheets, Kek easily crawling on top of him, hands once again tugging at the hem of Ryou's shirt, and this time Ryou allowed Kek to remove it, stripping him so they both lay bare-chested together.

Kek's lips searched Ryou's forehead, dipping down his left cheek until he found his lips. Ryou groaned and opened his mouth, arching up to brush his hips against Kek's. It was moments like these that Ryou lived for; moments where the whole world shrank to merely encompass Kek and Ryou, and their bodies together, and their touches so fiery as if nothing could come between them. As if there was no Shadow Realm, no real world, no lack of bodies or malevolent spirits to stop them from following a normal path.

It was only in times like these that Ryou truly felt alive.


End file.
